Beyond the Reef
by MyAlstroemerias
Summary: Out of the corner of his eye he spots one looking right at him. Not moving that much from it's spot. He reaches his hand out and it moves back. Scared. He looks at it and frowns. It's probably been in several fights. It has so many cuts and scars. It's not the first time he has seen a shark with them but it's the first time with so many.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys I am doing a writing give away on my twitter page. You can find the link in my profile. The rules are there. All I will say here is that the prize is a custom plot 10,000 word maximum fanfic. Please go check it out.

It wasn't a rare thing for the family to take the boat out and go diving. They would go and check on the coral for bleaching and clean up the floors or even help out the animals tangled up in nets or garbage. It was a part of their lives. During the school year after homework was done he could assist but on the weekends they were in the water more than they were on land. This was even more true during the summer break. They were always told to stay in groups. To help out if anything happened. Shark attack. Equipment malfunction. Anything. But Lance wasn't one for listening. He went down to the floor on his own and took his small tablet down with him. Seeing if, in the groups of animals, he could find an animal that used to be in their sanctuary. It's not an aquarium. His parents are Anti-Seaworld protesters. It's different. They take in injured marine life and the second they are healed they take them out far into the ocean and let them back to find their families.

He had bonds with them. They keep the trackers in them to see how they are doing. To see how much they have changed or adapted to their lives. He's sitting against some rocks when the tablet beeps. His eyes widened and he swims towards the red light until he spots a group of sharks. He stops and stays down. Watching as they swim towards him. The dot gets closer. It's there. He smiles and extends his hands out. Petting the shark. Taking his oxygen mask off to press a kiss to it's nose before it swims off. Out of the corner of his eye he spots one looking right at him. Not moving that much from it's spot. He reaches his hand out and it moves back. Scared.

He looks at it and frowns. It's probably been in several fights. It has so many cuts and scars. It's not the first time he has seen a shark with them but it's the first time with so many. He swims towards it. And keeps his hand out. Slowly petting it's head. Holding an arm around it's head to calm it down. Almost paralyzing it. He removes his oxygen mask and presses a kiss to it's snout. Smiling with his eyes shut. When they open and he goes to look at the shark. It's gone and in it's place is a man. With black and grey hair. Lance's eyes go wide and he looks at him.

He's naked. He is quick to start swimming up, dragging the man with him. They take turns with the oxygen mask. He can't let this guy die. Once at the boat he helps the man to a chair and wraps him in some dry towels from he takes his equipment off. Lance looks over the edge of the boat he sees his dad coming close. He stops him and calls out. "Before you come up get everyone to come back here okay?" Without a response his father returns to the water.

He has to come up with a way to make them believe him. But the man is there. It did happen so even if he does sound a bit crazy they have to believe him right? One by one they show up again and his brother is the first one up the latter. "Lance who the hell is that?" A soft 'Who is who? There's someone there?' is heard from over the edge of the boat. He sighs and looks over at the guy who is shaking. Must be cold. He frowns and gets him more towels bundling him up.

"It's a long story...I only want to say it once.." so he waits. Until everyone has put their gear away and are sitting down. He's pacing around. Still unsure how to explain this. He might as well just say it how it is. "I was swimming with the sharks again-" 'Lance!' "-Don't yell at me Mama I've done it so many times. More people die from vending machines than get hurt by sharks. As I was saying-" he goes on. Tells them how he found Mindy. The shark they saved when she was a pup. How he found another shark and gave it a kiss and how. It turned into this man.

"How do you expect us to believe that? Magi-"

"it's true..." They all turn their heads to the man Lance saved. Lance is quick to assist him in standing as he looks as if he is going to fall. "It sounds crazy and I didn't believe it until it all happened to me." Lance wraps his arms around his waist making sure to keep that towel up. "Magic is real, the fact that he found me down there should be real. Before...everything happened I used to live farther up north in Orlando..I got in a car accident and in the processed killed a little boy. I wasn't drunk or anything...A car hit mine and I swerved and hit a little boy." He sighs and slowly sits back down. He looks up and digs his nails into his palms. "The boy's mother was magical of some sort. She was so angry..But she didn't kill me she knew that wouldn't bring her son back. So she changed me, I was supposed to live there as a shark until the world itself died only then would I die. Alone without any human contact."

The man flashes a smile at Lance as if to thank him for saving him. "How long were you down there?" Lance's sister asks the man. "What's your name anyway that should have been the first thing we asked him."

"My name is Takashi...Takashi Shirogane." He takes a deep breath and shuts his eyes leaning against Lance. Poor guy must be so exhausted. "All my friends used to call me Shiro when I lived in Japan with my parents in school. But...What year is it?"

"2218." Takashi's head shot up with wide eyes. He frowns and curls up.

"A little more than a hundred years." His shoulders shake. Lance frowns and rubs his back. Even as a human he still has all those scars. Poor him. All his family is long gone and now it's just him. Alone in a world that is new, technology has advanced they just went through another industrial revolution.

"Let's bring you home son," They look over at their father and all silently nod. The boat starts up and Lance with the help of his older brother guides Takashi to the back of the boat to try on some of their clothes. Can't bring him to the docks naked. They get him dressed and bring him to his parents' home. They eat dinner together but mostly just watch Takashi gobble down food. It's been so long since he has had real food. His mother just doesn't stop feeding him. Lance doesn't blame her. His mother understands what is it like to go without food. The woman lived in Cuba back when it was still under communist rule. Back during the depression when some of her own family died out from starvation and cruelty. His father drags Lance to the other room to talk to his son for a moment. "What's the plan. You saved him what are you going to do now?"

"I guess I'll take him home with me...I'll talk to Pidge and see if she can help me out with Shiro's identity because according to the government he probably disappeared and died. I'll take care of him Dad don't worry. I took care of Maria when she was too scared to tell you she got pregnant and I took care of her kids too. I can take care of an old man. He's pretty good looking for an old man." He snorts at his last comment. "Even Carmen thinks so, look at her trying to flirt with someone who is over a hundred years old."

So he does. He drives Takashi downtown to his apartment and lets him into his guest room. "It used to be my friend's room before he moved out to get married. I'll wash the sheets and the blankets for you okay?" Takashi took a seat on the bed and nod laying down slowly.

"Thank you for doing this for me…Lance right?" He nods and smiles.

"No problem Shiro, If you want you can crash in my bed for the night and we can go shopping for you tomorrow. I have to call a friend who can help us out with your whole situation. She kind of...Works for the government. She can fix this whole mess okay? Still need help walking to my room or you going to stay in here?" He looks back at the man and chuckles. He has already fallen asleep on the bed. He'll call Pidge up in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Lance is the first to wake up. He always wakes up early. His hair takes forever to straighten because the curls are so short and he always burns his hands. On his way to the bathroom to get ready he passes the _guest's_ room and looks in. He's still asleep. Lance smiles and steps forward until he is at the edge of the bed so he can fix the blanket that is starting to fall off of Takashi. Lance lets out a shriek as Takashi shoots up from the bed. "I-I didn't mean to wake you…" The man looks up at him and sits back.

"It-...God is this really what my voice sounds like..It's so...Gro-"

"Smooth?" Takashi looks over and shakes his head slowly standing up, using the bedside table as support. Lance moves to his side to keep him standing. "I'm going to make breakfast if you would like to keep me company in the kitchen...that or I can set you up a bath..It must be weird not being in water all the time." Takashi looks down at him and nods following Lance to the kitchen where he sits down in a chair. He keeps his eyes on the sunkissed man as he moves through the room. It starts smelling really nice and warm. He only realized what was happening when Lance was bent down in front of him wiping his mouth for him. "You are drooling...Still tired or just that hungry."

He opens his mouth to respond but only a soft grunt comes out. They both stare at each other for a moment before Lance pats his shoulder and smiles. "I-I...Just hungry. It's so weird to be hungry only some hours later and not the next day. I'll have to get used to it." Slowly and with shaky knees he stands up only to sit back down. Dammit. He was going to check on what Lance was making but standing and walking around freely is an obvious no-no. Lance walks over to his side and places a full plate down in front of him. He puts a pot on the table and sits down beside him. His own plate empty confuses Takashi. "Are you not going to eat?"

"I'll eat when you finish eating, sorry about the food though I never really had to make breakfast until this past month and I'm not the best. I just make what I know what to make." He smiles at Takashi and rests his head on the table just watching him. Wondering about him. Who is Takashi Shirogane? Who was he before he was found? Before he went through that change. Every time Takashi's plate starts to get empty Lance fills it up some more. Only stopping when he starts to slow down on how much he puts into his system. Standing up he serves himself a bowl of rice some chicken and fried eggs. "Food of the gods…"

"Hmm?" He turns around and chuckles at the sight of Takashi with his mouth full. Rice stuck onto his cheeks. He sits down and wipes his cheeks with a napkin before starting to eat his own meal.

"My mom used to say fried eggs and rice was the food of the gods, and it sure is. When I was little on my birthday I got to choose what was for dinner. I picked fried eggs and rice every time." He smiles and looks over his shoulder at the stove to check the time. "She should be awake soon.." He looks back at Takashi who is watching him. Almost finished eating. "I have to call my friend...She is going to help us out as long as I can convince her that you are telling the truth, that and she owes me big time." Takashi nods and looks down at his empty plate then at the sink. As if he is getting the courage to walk all the way over there to take care of it himself. Lance shakes his head and takes the plate from him. "It's okay to need help, I guess you can be my new gym buddy. Get you strong again until you can walk on your own again. How does that sound?"

"It sounds great, Lance."

While he helped Takashi into the bathtub, Lance walked into a new room and looked at his cellphone. He takes a deep breath and brings it to his ear taking a seat on the couch. He listens and waits. Hoping the other side of the line will answer his call. A ping rings in his ear and he shoots up. " _What do you need Lance, I am trying to pack my lunch and dinner because some of us have jobs to attend to._ " He glares at the wall and shakes his head. Stay calm.

"Whenever you are free I need you to come over with your big kid laptop. I need your help." Before she can even scold him he hangs up and makes his way over to the bathroom to sit check on Takashi who is just sitting in the tub with his head laying back against the cushion. Lance knocks on the door to alert him of his presence. "How do you feel, Shiro?" He moves and takes a seat on the floor next to the tub with his back facing Takashi.

"I'm okay...How did the phone call go." Lance sighs and groans into his knees. "Not that great I'm going to guess?" He reaches out and pat's Lance's head making him flinch and turn his head to look at the older man.

"No. She just yelled at me a lot, but I know she'll come over anyway. For now we can just relax all day. I texted my sister to drop off my dad's wheelchair so you don't have to walk around so much and risk getting hurt. She'll be over later probably around lunch time with some of my dad's clothes too." He slowly stands up and picks up the towel throwing it over his shoulder as he moves to help Takashi stand up. Wrapping the towel around him he smiles and helps him sit back down on the toilet. He moves to the sink and pulls out the hair dryer. Helping Takashi with whatever he needs. Something in his heart tells him he should.


End file.
